With 2020 being such a unique year for businesses and the world alike; the world of digital continues to adapt, look forward and predict the potential technologies we could be exposed to in the future.  We'll look at some of the PPC trends set to make an impact in 2021 and beyond. 

PPC is no different; businesses are looking at their PPC campaigns in order to analyse and prepare future implementations. In the world of digital marketing, you cannot leave anything standing still for too long; and this past year is a good example of that. 

User search and buying habits have taken a new direction, and as certain trends look set to stay in the ‘digital future’ it’s important that organisations identify the PPC trends that if applied correctly, can make a huge difference. 

Audience Trends 

The audiences’ habits will have no doubt changed in recent time; and as users begin to increase their time spent online, whether that be on social media or Ecommerce sites, it’s important to have answers to the following: 

• What does my audience search for?
• Which websites does they search on? 
• What is the buying process like? 

Once this information is gathered, PPC campaigns can be better targeted and customers become better understood – how they purchasing goods. 

Automation Efficiency 

It’s unlikely we’ll be seeing automation slow down in the near future; especially when it assists PPC marketers so greatly. 

PPC automation allows marketers to control their Google ad campaigns through machine learning, therefore decreasing the hours spent updating scope, timing, and targeting. They can use this time to work on strategies that can build brand awareness. 

Stats can be analysed in a deeper manner – the extra time gained from not having to maintain every detail for every campaign, can lead towards more time adjusting campaigns which aren’t working, which could see a better return on sales and investment as a result. 

The use of video 

Although with most PPC you target keywords, topics and demographics, videos are increasingly being used to target customers with ads specifically targeted to them. 

The second-largest online search engine, YouTube, has 2.3 billion users worldwide as of 2021. 

Consumers are experiencing adverts more often on YouTube; with ads being shown before, after and even during the middle of their favourite videos. As consumers begin to spend more time across platforms such as YouTube, this will continue to be an ideal platform to target consumers with their favourite ads. 

Voice Search

The use of voices search is becoming more normal by the day. More machines are being built to be compatible with voice, and there’s a chance we could see a lot more of that in 2021 and beyond. 

There is possible voice search dominance for the future, which means businesses will have to start optimising strategies and marketing plans to suit these advancements.

With more people using voice search, it could potentially open up more potential marketing avenues. This could be an exciting change, however, users may not be as clear when they speak, compared to when they type, meaning long-tailed keywords are likely to be more effective and this helps improve targeting.

Utilising The Power Of First-Party Data 

There have been significant changes in privacy policies and third-party cookies across browsers and search engines. This had led to businesses finding alternative ways to source data. 

Moving forward, those who are using cookie-based targeting technologies, will have to come up with a strategy that uses first part data. Using this data can help with campaign customisation; meeting needs and brand objectives. 

“With how dependent marketers have been on cookie-driven targeting technologies, I believe that developing new solutions not reliant on cookies is the key 2021 priority for marketers,” - Ilya Cherepakhin, Head of Performance Marketing, Milestone Inc.
 

There are many more trends that we can expect to reshape the future of PPC. We’ve only scraped the surface of the potential changes we could see across various platforms moving forward – which trends are you looking forward to seeing? 

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